Events

Anna Zamecka is a film director who lives and works in Warsaw, Poland. She studied journalism, anthropology and photography in Warsaw and Copenhagen. She completed the Dok Pro Documentary Program at Wajda School. Her feature documentary debut Communion (2016) was the opening film of last year’s ZagrebDox, where it got Special Mention of the International Jury. The film subsequently had a very successful festival run, winning numerous awards, including the European Film Award for Best Documentary.

Through a story about the everyday life of a girl, forced to grow up before her time because she lives in a dysfunctional family, Communion unveils the beauty of the rejected, the strength of the weak and a need for change when this seems impossible.

Anna Zamecka will give us her insight into the working process as a director, producer and co-editor of her documentary debut Communion, a film that shifts between documentary and fiction, whilst touching on the ethical responsibility of turning the lives of others into images.

“I was just like any child when it came to fairy tales – I loved them. Hansel and Gretel was one of my favourites. Communion is a realistic, non-black-and-white version of the tale about Hansel and Gretel looking for their path in the forest world, where parents cannot play their roles. It is not a film about the preparations to the first communion ceremony in a Polish family (though this is the narrative). It is an existential tale about the impossible communion – seen as a bond, a loving family united.” – Anna Zamecka